Shale Nelson’s dark science fiction odyssey kicks off with Sons of Shikago, a character-driven foray into three unique near-future settings: the tiered utopia of Middle City, the bizarre VR domains of the Brain Net, and the brutal underworld of Shikago.

Lewen Roi knows how to find people in the Brain Net. Orphaned at a young age, he learned how to disappear in virtual worlds and “The Real” alike with the help of a neural implant. When a wealthy asteroid speculator approaches him with a missing person case, it gives Lewen a chance to achieve his lifelong dream—leaving the brutal underworld of Shikago forever and starting a new life in the glorious tiered city built above it.

John Shiver has recently ascended to power in Shikago and is learning to navigate the dangerous urban and political terrain of the gangland his father once ruled. While raising an infant daughter with his high school sweetheart, he must fight off danger from all sides as old enemies and new alike threaten his turf and the people under his protection. Among constant threats from authorities and rival gangs, a bizarre cult of costumed and modified newcomers is spreading like a cancer on John’s streets and threatening everything he holds dear.

As Lewen and John face new threats, a deadly secret from their past may pose the gravest danger of all. In an undercity where life is cheap, the murders of Lewen’s parents and John’s father still shape the lives of these wounded, surviving sons.